"Chicken Toss $1"
8 x 16 inches, acrylic on canvas, framed
$140.00 each
can be personalized
Here is a brief history of the Chicken Toss as written by Corin Raymond, the man credited with bringing the Chicken Toss to The Cameron House, if not all of Ontario.
"The Chicken Toss originated, as far as I can tell, in Alberta. It travelled from there to a few key places, namely Texas and Manitoba. Jason Nowicki of The Perpetrators was the first to introduce The Toss in Winnipeg, where it has gained cult and community status thanks to John Scoles at the Times Change(d) High and Lonesome Club at Main and St. Mary.
One year, Times even had a fifty foot rubber chicken float in the Winnipeg parade. I've often tossed the bird at Times, and also at The Auditorium in Nanton, AB. The birds that fly in Wpg. all come from the same magic shop in Calgary. I remember Hayes Carll telling me that one time, while on tour in Texas, his crew tied a knot at one end of a towel, dampened it for weight, and used that to have a late night toss in the corridor of their hotel. The Toss can live without the chicken, but if you're doing a sanctioned round, you need the golden bird.
Rules of the game: the bucket sits 21 feet from the fowl line, and tossers toss from behind that line. It generally costs a dollar a toss, and whoever buckets the chicken gets the $$ in the pot. No folding the bird, no overhand tosses. It's like lawn darts, but with a chicken and bucket. It's not as easy as it looks, but it's definitely as fun as it looks. It's highly addictive. John Scoles gave me a bird when I was visiting Winnipeg and he even wrote on its thigh 'High and Lonesome Certified'. I brought that chicken to The Cameron House and we had some amazing tosses (and more to come!). Since Cosmo took over the bar he and his friends have been keeping the game alive and there are some true champs in that gang. And the love continues to spread.... that's a short history of The Chicken Toss as I know it."
A.Shay Hahn
